So as I am still having trouble with my posting through he blog, I am creating this in my word processing and will try getting it into the blog so I can keep up with my posting. Not being able to so the daily posting is a very strange thing. Why after all these months does it suddenly go berserk and get to a point where I can’t even use it. I have tried to get it back to normal size to no avail. I have tired searching through the help groups; I have posted requests for help, all with no results. The post box, which is normally about the size of half of a word processing page, is in normal size font. What I now have is tiny box - let me stop and get a ruler so I can measure this little bugger for you, so you can see what I am up against.
The box for posting is 4 inches wide and only 1 ½ inches high. I can barely make out any photos I have uploaded, let alone read the print. The upper case letters are 1/16 of an inch; I got my ruler and measured it out. The lower cases are so tiny they run into each other.
So the question becomes, why am I so upset by this? I really have enjoyed doing this blog every day. I have changed the timing around with the start of school. But I have taken so many photos on so many trips around all the gardens that I want to share with you.
Okay, right here I have to tell you that I am so enjoying writing this in the word processing – It is correcting all my grammar errors!!! And it is giving me so many more choices on my spelling mistakes!! So here is the up side!!
Let’s see if I can get the font I enjoy and keep it throughout the writing!! Just can’t get my photos as easily. I am not going to even try to get them into this writing. I will deal with that later!! LOL!! Yea, like I am going to try to tackle that today!!!
This morning there is a nice steady rain falling. That is just great; as I had several gardeners here yesterday getting plants, this will help their transplants settle in just fine. Plus I won’t have to water my gardens for a few more days now. That’s always nice.
My bed by the front door filled with Pachysandra was emptied out yesterday, thanks Sheila and Jimmy, to make way for an herb bed right outside my door, for easier access year round. I used to have all herbs in the Daylily bed right in front of the house, but it got so overgrown over the years, and I was unable to keep track of all the plants as they grew into one another. This way, I will be able to use it longer as it will stay viable longer due to the protection it will get from being right by the house. And I will be able to keep a watch on it as it is right by the door! That was a tip I learned from the book “Gaia’s Garden”, by Toby Hemenway. He suggests setting up zones around your yard, with Zone 1 being the closest to the house. You use Zone 1 for the plants that need the closest monitoring, or that you want to be able to get to the most frequently. I find that I am able to use fresh herbs year round as my septic tank is right outside the front door, and my Thyme stays alive year round due to its heat!
So it will be interesting to see at what point the frost will affect the herbs after I mover them closer to the house. It is a very sunny spot, so I am sure I will have a prolonged season of harvesting my herbs.
Speaking of experimenting with things around the garden, I have a gardener friend (Sheila) who is having a terrible time with deer. She has been losing lots of cherished mature plants. She went home with a variety of plants supposedly deer resistant. I had researched and gotten a list provided by Rutgers Univ. It actually rates the plants based on how much damage deer do to them from rarely damaged to severely damaged. We browsed my gardens and took a sampling of plants on the rarely damaged list, and Sheila planted them in areas recently grazed on by the deer in her woods. I gave her some young succulent plants to see what they would eat. She prepared a great smorgasbord for our experiment process! We will keep you posted. We are also planning to plant Maximilian Sunflower seeds as these are recommended by Toby Hemenway to help deter deer. He recommends that you do allow them to graze, but by providing something for them to get satisfied by and creating a barrier that they will not cross, that you can learn to coexist with these beautiful peaceful creatures. It just takes finding the right balance.
For some reason I have been very fortunate over here. I did research when I was planning my large bed out front. Out back, I had never had deer in, so I hadn’t needed to think about it. When we did get a few deer some years back, it was when there was a bad time of it for them foraging in the winter. They came in and ate the ivy growing up the trees, as there was so much snow on the ground. They never got close to the house, though. Maybe it was due to our German Shepherds, who knows. They never feasted on any of my ground plants.
Oh how I love word processing – it knows just how to correct all my errors!!! Unlike the blog that comes on and off at it own will!!
So, to get back to the deer, Toby suggests you create a barrier hedge around your yard, with thorny plantings towards the side the deer would be exposed to, with some plantings that they can forage on.
I will give more info as we get further along this process. Sheila planted some of the following yesterday: Anise Hyssop, Black-eyed Susan, Goutweed, Cranesbill Geranium, Lamb’s Ear, Rose Campion, and more, but I can’t remember them all this morning!!! LOL what else is new!! The deer have been eating her 20 Hosta, Oak Leaf Hydrangea, and beautiful Autumn Joy Sedum, and then some.
This will be an ongoing process. But once we find out what they don’t eat, then she can plan to plant more and figure out strategically where best to plant. Deer establish their routes through wooded area. When we impinge on those routes, by say, building our dream house on the most perfect spot that exists(!!), they still want to continue on their route, and how wonderful for them when they find new feast along the way. What do they care that it is many dollars worth of valuable carefully, tenderly and lovingly planted perennials that were intended for daily show, not as a daily feast. So Sheila will be needing to deter them from their normal path, and get them to rethink their eating habits in her neck of those woods.
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